Research Pitfalls of Beginning Genealogists

“I’m a direct descendant of George Washington!” Be wary of claims like this and check their veracity! Our first president had no children.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your research skills, it’s always best to take a personal inventory of your research practices and habits. Following are some errors that many beginners and hobbyists make which, if eliminated, could save time and increase accuracy immensely.

Collecting Ancestors – This is one of the most common mistakes. Simply copying down someone else’s tree or taking their information at face value without sources or explanation is a quick way to perpetuate untrue lineages and family stories. A good rule of thumb is to be able to give a solid reason for every bit of information you add to your database/tree/chart. How do you know that John is the son of Robert? And how do you know that that Robert is the right one when there is another man by the same name a county over? Traditions handed down can be helpful and even true, but a good genealogist always double checks! (And P.S. – use special caution when attempting to tie into “royal lines”; many are known to have been fabricated long ago.)

Fishing for the Famous – We encounter this fairly frequently, and it involves trying to prove a relationship to a notable person simply because you share the same last name. “I am from the South and my last name is Lee. We are probably related to the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee.” Such an assumption is not a sound approach and is very seldom true. The best course of action is to start with your recent family and move backward. Avoid beginning with a celebrity or historical figure and trying to force him into your tree!

Tunnel Vision – It is usually difficult to find direct-line ancestors if the rest of the family is ignored. In your research, build complete families, not just single lines of descent. Don’t just know who your ancestor was and who he married, but research who his siblings and their spouses were. Even studying his unrelated close friends and associates can often be the key to solving a brick-wall problem. If your ancestor didn’t leave much of a paper trail, there’s a good chance that one of his siblings did, taking you back to the next generation you couldn’t have found only researching one man or woman.

Incomplete Research – Lone records can often contain inaccuracies, or at the very least, a fragmented part of the story. Be sure to make the effort to confirm information that you find with multiple records whenever possible. Find a headstone? Great! If possible, also locate a death certificate, parish record, obituary, and/or will.

Being Disorganized – Do you have notes scribbled on three different notepads and tucked away on Post-Its, backs of envelopes, and other random slips of paper? This one is for you! Your research experience will improve if you make a concerted effort to keep everything in one place. The same can go for Word documents scattered around your hard drive. Make folders, keep notes in your pedigree software, and always back-up your files externally! No one wants to lose ten years’ worth of research because their computer crashes!

Don’t be discouraged if you find yourself making these mistakes from time to time! Genealogy is a fun field, but it can also be exacting, with a steep learning curve. Even as professionals, we are constantly growing and figuring out better ways of doing things, and everyone benefits from raised standards!

We want to hear from you! In the comments, feel free to share some of the things that you have learned over time – perhaps even some trial and error you experienced in your own research.

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Katy - Legacy Tree Genealogists Project Manager

Earning a bachelor's degree in Family History & Genealogy, along with a natural love of writing, prepared Katy to research and edit with enthusiasm. She loves history, solving mysteries, and helping others discover their heritage. Her expertise is primarily in United States genealogy but she loves exploring family history worldwide and particularly enjoys the variety that being a project manager brings.

We love Ancestry family trees and other compiled trees as “ideas” and possible guideposts. Since generally these kinds of trees don’t include primary sources (birth certificates, obituaries, etc.) they can’t be considered a real source until the information is documented. But, as a starting point they can be helpful.

The accuracy of trees often tends to break down when primary sources become scarce (pre-1850 in the U.S. for example). At that point research requires good analysis skills and we find many not willing or able to prove a case for correct ancestry. That’s when parents get stuck into a tree that don’t really belong there, and then that tree is copied and placed around the web. So, finding documentation and putting together a case for the correct ancestors continues to be important.

While the Ancestry.com, Geni.com, and wikitree.com trees are USUALLY wildly inaccurate, there are usually some serious red flags that show up when you start wading into nonsense territory.

These include:
1. Sudden relationships to nobility or famous people.
2. People using the wrong titles and forms of address for nobility. For example, the Virgina Dudley line DOES eventually get back to the Baron Suttons of Dudley, but it Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, is only a distant cousin. If you follow the Ancestry.com and other trees, you’ll see claims that an earl’s son immigrated to the colonies, and the titles used are a complete mess. The chances of this happening are virtually zippo. By the time the Dudley immigrant came, his father was nothing more than the son of a mayor. Junior branches of mayoral families and urban branches of landed gentry descended from nobility commonly came, but actual nobility only showed up to be governor.
3. Ridiculous dates. Ridiculous ages of marriage, ages of children, spacing of children,
4. Years of both birth and death for several generations…but no more.
5. Lots of single children, for generations.
6. Untraceable wives, for generations.
7. Ridiculous changes in habitation. No, chances are that your family did not go shire-hopping across England.

Be REALLY, REALLY suspicious of the parents of anyone who is an immigrant. I must say that MOST of the trans-Atlantic genealogies from the colonial era are just flat wrong. Many of them are frankly forged by people wanting to have a noble or royal connection. 🙁

Kathy, you are so right! I try to remember to always cite my sources, but there are so many online trees (especially Ancestry) where folks “borrow” from others’ trees. One person repeatedly – on more than one tree – kept adding another child that didn’t exist. I wrote him several times. My dad is 95 and his sister is 99. They would know if they had another younger sibling.

That’s wonderful – yes, it can be very rewarding to connect with living cousins. Now that DNA testing is moving further into Ireland we’re looking forward to that becoming an even more accessible avenue for connecting with cousins as well.

Katy,
I am considering using your professional help in my complex family search.
Some word has been done with resources checked.
I live in California; however most of the research will be in Amherst, VA and surrounding counties.
If this is something you would like to work with me, I would like to speak with you.
Naturally I will pay for services rendered.

Katy,
I am considering using your professional help in my complex family search.
Some work has been done with resources checked.
I live in California; however most of the research will be in Amherst, VA and surrounding counties.
If this is something you would like to work with me, I would like to speak with you.
Naturally I will pay for services rendered.

Hi Charles! We would be very happy to help you. Give us a call at 801-783-1277 to speak with a project manager and discuss your goals, or email info@legacytree.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

This brings back memories. I’ve fallen into all these pitfalls, especially pitfall number one — collecting ancestors.

Now I “look for records, not people.” Often I can collect enough primary documents that I don’t need to even look at other members’ trees or if I do I discover that I have more information than the trees, which is nice because someone will come along someday and be able to see my tree and the documents that verified the information.

I’ve come across many family trees that are just big messes that don’t follow logic but have been copied and pasted over and over with no one stopping to notice that the family lived in Nova Scotia, Canada but 60 years worth of censuses were all conducted in England? Stuff like that requires hours of undoing, which is kind of a fun challenge if you like sleuthing.

Every once in a while I’ll be stumped and take a peak at family trees for clues. And that’ what other people’s trees are, just clues.

Laura, you’re exactly right! Those are very good points. Accuracy is key, and it’s so vitally important to draw conclusions from what the records actually do and do not say. We do the same with published trees – use them as clues or guideposts, but definitely not as sources themselves. It can be a real jungle out there, and the more genealogists who figure out what you did about pitfall #1, the better. Thanks for your comment.

What I often do is grab a ton of Ancestry.com names at once. As a teenager, I’d already digitized my grandfather’s painstaking research (and added some of my own!), so many of the names are familiar to me. If thinks look hinky, I break off that line and start doing detailed research. I hate using Ancestry’s Events and attach records–wills, deeds, marriage, etc.–as a separate document. When I go to put everything on my own site, it will be much easier that way. Just export the GEDCOM and then add the individual records so I have the whole thing with more complete records rather than the usual citations.

Pedigree books of various sorts are more reliable than Ancestry trees in general, but they can be in error sometimes and are often incomplete, too. The ones that contain the documentation in them is my favorite of all because they’re so easy to use! The best sources are, of course, the original documents, however you get them–everything from graves to wills to legal action. 🙂

I have had the DNA tests done at both 23andme and Ancestry.com. One says I have 23% Jewish and one says 20%. Just about all the matches I have received are from Jewish people. I would like to find out where in my linage the Jewish part comes from. All my ancesters are from Zeeland Holland and most all the documentation is in dutch. No one ever mentioned this to me, my siblings and cousins. We are all from here. Is there anyway I could find out? I am going to get the M test at Family Tree.com and I know my brother won’t spend the money for a y test. (all the old relatives have died)

Hi Sandra, How intriguing! We would love to help and would recommend starting with an Intro research project to get you going in a great direction. To learn more, visit https://legacytree.com/services.

Hi Barbara,
It sounds like you’ve got us confused with the software program Legacy Family Tree. We are Legacy Tree Genealogists and are professional researchers, so I’m afraid we can’t help you with the program you’re using as it’s not our product! I’d suggest looking for resources on their website (legacyfamilytree.com).
Regards,
Katy